Title: And They Called It Ducky Love
Date Completed: November 1, 2006
Author: Jennie
Email:jllamb1118@aol.comWebsite:Dimples and Distinctive Penmanship StylePairing: Josh/Donna
Spoilers: None
Rating: All Audiences [fluffy]
Written for: Bubble Ficathon 2006 for quaggy_mire (This is probably not what you were hoping forÉ but I hope you like it anyway!)
Prompt: rubber duck
Optional Prompt: bubble bath
Disclaimer: I don't own these people or this universe. Aaron Sorkin does. (I'd love to work out a time-share arrangement on Josh, though.)
Distribution: Bubble fic archive? Absolutely! Elsewhere, sure, but please ask me first.
Author's Notes: Thanks to tinhutlady for the handholding, S. and mcamy for their inspiring collection and to bexatious for the speedy beta!
Warning: This is pure cheese! ;)

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When the first box arrived with two miniature rubber duckies inside, one obviously a female in an evening gown and the other, the male, in a white tie and tails... Donna had no idea what to make of the strange gift. The card included read "from your secret admirer." What was even stranger was that they came the day before a state dinner.

The boxes kept coming, one about every two weeks. The card was always signed the same. But the ducks... they were always different.

On the Fourth of July, Mr. and Mrs. Ducky, as she had come to call them, were dressed in matching red, white and blue outfits. For Easter, they were wearing eggshells, as if they had just been hatched. At Halloween, both were dressed as devils. And even when there was no holiday, the duckies kept coming. One set was dressed in Army fatigues, another in bathing suits, another in parkas, and still another set was dressed as a doctor and a nurse.

She still thought it awfully strange, but her growing collection of ducks in assorted themes now held a special place in her heart. She kept wondering who this secret admirer was and if she shouldn't be just a little bit frightened by the odd attention they were paying her. Then again, she thought that rubber duckies were pretty harmless, comical even, and she started looking forward to each new set.

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One day as she was going through Josh's mail to pay his bills, yet another task not in her job description, Donna happened to notice that two of the charges were for very small amounts from the Oriental Trading Co. online store. That night when she got home another shipment had arrived--this time Mrs. Ducky was wearing a hula skirt and Mr. Ducky was wearing a Hawaiian shirt--and she double-checked the return address on the shipping label. Sure enough, it was from the Oriental Trading Co. online store. So, Josh was her "secret admirer."

Later that night, firmly ensconced in a bubble bath with a bottle of red wine, she held a meeting with all of her Mr. and Mrs. Duckies. There was only one item on the agenda: how to let Josh know she knew that was he was the one sending her the ducks. At the end of her bath--and the end of the bottle of wine--she was sure that she and the paddle had come up with the perfect plan.

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About a week later, Josh strode into his office one morning to find not his usual disarray of papers and folders on his desk, but an elaborate water scene instead. There was a blue tablecloth spread out on his desk with red confetti strewn about. In the middle sat two plain miniature rubber ducks with their bills stuck together like they were kissing. As he sat down a card to one side of the desk caught his eye. It simply read: "Dear Secret Admirer, I admire you too!"

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Three years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Ducky arrived in a bridal gown and tuxedo along with a black velvet box containing a rather large diamond ring via personal messenger, the secret admirer himself.

And just yesterday, Donna received the latest ducky shipment. This time Mrs. Ducky is sitting in a rocker with a tiny baby ducky in her arms as Mr. Ducky looks on fondly. As she adds them to the shelf with the rest of the collection, she smiles and rubs her expanding belly.